exchanges of faecal sludge management...
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Exchanges of Faecal Sludge Management Coalitions By WaterAid and Alliances
Workshop Proceedings
19 February 2017Le Royal Meridien, Chennai, India
© WaterAid India, 2017Any part of this publication may be translated or reprinted for non-
commercial purposes with due acknowledgement to WaterAid India.
Any such use will need to be accompanied by the suggested citation text.
All Photographs: WaterAid/ V R Raman
Exchanges of Faecal Sludge Management Coalitions By WaterAid and Alliances
Workshop Proceedings
19 February 2017Le Royal Meridien, Chennai, India
BORDA Bremen Overseas Research and Development Association
BUET Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology
CEO ChiefExecutiveOfficer
CSE Centre for Science and Environment
DEWAT Decentralised Wastewater Treatment Systems
DWASA Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority
FSM Faecal Sludge Management
iDE International Development Enterprises
IRF Institutional and Regulatory Framework
JMP Joint Monitoring Programme
MDG Millennium Development Goals
NFSSM National Faecal Sludge and Septage Management
NGO Non-governmental Organisation
NIUA NationalInstituteofUrbanAffairs
ODF Open Defecation Free
PSU Programme Support Unit
SBM Swachh Bharat Mission
SCBP Sanitation Capacity Building Platform
SDG Sustainable Development Goal
SFD Shit Flow Diagram
SuSanA Sustainable Sanitation Alliance
ULBs Urban Local Bodies
WASH Water Sanitation and Hygiene
WHO World Health Organisation
Acronyms
WaterAid India acknowledges support from Programme Support Unit (PSU),
WaterAid UK for organising the workshop. We also extend our sincere thanks to
Bremen Overseas Research and Development Association (BORDA), Centre for
Science and Environment (CSE), International Development Enterprises (iDE),
Emory University, National Faecal Sludge and Septage Management (NFSSM)
Alliance, India and Faecal Sludge Management (FSM) Network, Bangladesh for
their valuable contributions. We would also like to thank Sakshi Gudwani from
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Depinder Kapur from National Institute of
UrbanAffairs(NIUA)fortheirwholeheartedsupportinthisendeavor
Acknowledgement
16:00 - 16:05 Welcome Address by Session Chair
16:05 - 16:20 FSM Status of Bangladesh and the Way Forward
Speaker: Dr Md Mujibur Rahman, Professor, Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET)
16:20 - 16:35 FSM Status of India and the Way Forward
Speaker: Arumugham Kalimuthu, Programme Director, Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban), Technical Assistance Programme, WASH Institute, and Convener, National Faecal Sludge and Septage Management (NFSSM) Alliance, India
16:35 - 16:50 Sanitation Capacity Building Platform
Speaker: Depinder Kapur, National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA), India
16:50 - 16:55 Concluding remarks by the Session Chair and Moderator
16:55 - 17:00 Break
17:00 - 17:05 Welcome Address by Session Chair
17:05 - 17:20 The Chronicle of Faecal Sludge Management
Speaker: Dr Abdullah Al-Muyeed, Programme Support Unit (PSU), WaterAid UK
17:20 - 17:35 FSM in Africa: A Journey
Speaker: Jutta Camargo, Regional Coordinator, Bremen Overseas Research and Development Association (BORDA), Africa
17:35 - 17:50 Shit Flow Diagram: An Integral Part of City Wide Sanitation
Speaker: Bhitush Luthra, Deputy Programme Manager, Water Programme, Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), India
17:50 - 17:55 Concluding remarks by the Session Chair and Moderator
17:55 - 18:00 Break
Session I Innovations and Faecal Sludge Management (FSM)
Session Chair and Moderator: Sakshi Gudwani, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Session II FSM and a City Wide Approach
Session Chair and Moderator: Dr M Habibur Rahman, Chairman, Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority (DWASA), Bangladesh
ActivityTime
Workshop Agenda
Hasin Jahan Country Director, Practical Action Bangladesh
FSM Network Bangladesh: Nexus efforts paving the roadmap towards achieving SDG
Rajeev MunankamiSenior Advisor and Team Leader, FSM Programme, SNV Netherlands Development Organisation, Bangladesh
Policy-Advocacy Integration: Experiences of the 1st FSM Convention of Bangladesh
Jutta CamargoRegional Coordinator, BORDA, Africa
Tracking FSM experiences of Africa
Avinash KumarDirector, Programmes and Policy, WaterAid India
How FSM is critical for everyone everywhere: Reaching the poor first
Aftab OpelHead of Programmes, WaterAid Bangladesh
FSM - Business or Subsidy!
Alicia MayInnovation Advisor, iDE (International Development Enterprises)
Exploring FSM commercialisation: The Cambodia experience
Dr Christine MoeProfessor, Emory University
FSM: Consequences for public health
Panel Discussion18:00 - 19:15
The Roadmap of FSM: Where are we?
Moderator: Dr Suresh Kumar Rohilla, Programme Director, Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), India
Vote of thanks and concluding remarks by Dr Suresh Kumar Rohilla, Programme Director, Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), India
9 About FSMCoalitions
There are still 2.5 billion people in the world who lack access to improved sanitation and around one billion people who still defecate in the open. The number of deaths that can be attributed to sanitation-related diseases is still hovering around two million per year, of which children below five years are the most affected group. The Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) on sustainable water and sanitation management (SDG 6) aims at closing this gap by 2030. It is part of the new Common Development Agenda adopted in 2015, which now applies to all countries and brings together environmental, social, as well as economic goals. The new sanitation goal expands the focus of the earlier set Millennium Development Goals (MDG) and addresses sanitation beyond toilets, including aspects of excreta management and reuse. Since sanitation is a key component of sustainable development, the sanitation goal has strong interlinkages to all other SDGs. Therefore, the realisation of the sanitation goal represents a crucial contribution to much of the 2030 agenda.
Worldwide, 2.7 billion people rely on on-site
sanitation. Yet, there is still no management
system in place to deal with the resulting faecal
sludge (e.g. septage and pit latrine sludge). The
result is that the waste typically ends up being
dumped directly into the urban environment,
withsignificanthealthandenvironmental
implications. Creating the infrastructure for faecal
sludge management (FSM) and public services
that work for everyone, and keeping faecal sludge
out of the environment is a major challenge in
achieving access to universal sanitation. The
Sustainable Sanitation Alliance (SuSanA) is an
established international alliance unifying a wide
range of members working towards achieving
sustainable sanitation systems promoting
health,effectivehygieneandimplementation
of appropriate technical solutions, which are
bothfinanciallyandeconomicallyviable,while
being socially acceptable and institutionally
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appropriate. These achievements should provide
adequate sanitation and protect the environment
and natural resources. WaterAid is one of the
core group members of SuSanA. Such alliances
provide an opportunity to build a strong network
for knowledge management, discussion,
collaboration and for establishing regional
nodes on appropriate needs focusing on regional
contexts. With an aim to share and brainstorm
on potential solutions, to formulate policy
recommendations that promote best practices and
to identify the lessons learned in ways to make
FSM an integral part of sanitation service delivery,
the 4th ‘International Faecal Sludge Management
Conference’ (FSM4) was organised in Chennai,
India from 19-23 February 2017. FSM4 created
an opportunity to bring together professionals
working in the sector, including utilities, service
providers, city and government representatives,
academics, scientists, consultants, sponsors
and industries, to support the global initiative
of disseminating sustainable solutions for
FSM. WaterAid India took the opportunity
to strengthen cross-learning and sharing
between different countries in Asia and Africa
by organising a workshop titled, ‘Exchanges
of Faecal Sludge Management Coalitions’ on
19 February 2017. In this workshop, WaterAid
and Alliances exchanged their insights on FSM to
learn and share current practices, problems, and
new ideas and innovations being practised across
the world. The workshop provided a platform to
discuss what coalitions and alliances are doing
for FSM, the challenges they face and the action
plan to address these challenges. This should
pave the way for further collaboration amongst
countries and continents and enhance knowledge
of FSM.
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Exchanges of FSM Coalitions
The workshop was convened by WaterAid and co-convened by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), India; National Faecal Sludge and Septage Management (NFSSM) Alliance, India; FSM Network, Bangladesh with participation from Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; and National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA), India. The Programme Support Unit (PSU) of WaterAid UK provided the necessary organisational support. Puneet Srivastava, Policy Manager at WaterAid India welcomed all the participants and set the agenda for the event, after which, he introduced the Chair and the speakers.
12 Session IInnovations and FSM
Sakshi Gudwani, Specialist - WASH, Bill &
Melinda Gates Foundation, chaired the inaugural
session.Brieflytouchinguponthebackground
of NFSSM, she shared that the Alliance was
convened in January 2016 with a mandate to
build consensus around faecal sludge and septage
management. With an emphasis on working
across all aspects of city sanitation plans and
institutional networks, the Alliance seeks to
identify innovative solutions that can be scaled
up to solve the considerable sanitation problems
facing us.
Speaking on ‘Faecal Sludge Management in
Bangladesh’, Dr Md Mujibur Rahman,
Professor of Civil Engineering at the Bangladesh
University of Engineering and Technology (BUET),
stated that Bangladesh had almost achieved
open defecation-free (ODF) status in the year
2015. The improvement in sanitation coverage
in Bangladesh over the past decade has been
a remarkable 61 per cent (JMP 2015, WHO &
UNICEF) and Dr Rahman attributed this progress to
the introduction of on-site sanitation facilities like
pourflushlatrinesandtheseptictanksystem.He
explained that the conventional sewerage system
is virtually absent in Bangladesh as out of 160
million people, only four million are connected to
sewerage, while the rest of the population is served
by on-site sanitation systems. Dr Rahman suitably
set the background for the day’s discussions, laying
out the challenges of FSM in the absence of proper
emptying and disposal systems of faecal sludge. He
drew attention to the role and importance of FSM
in attaining the Sustainable Development Goals
(SDG), particularly indicators 6.2 (safely managed
sanitation services) and 6.3 (improvement of water
quality). Highlighting the fact that Bangladesh is
witnessing encouraging initiatives for FSM with
support from the Government of Bangladesh,
non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and
developmental partners, he explained that one
of the key initiatives for FSM in Bangladesh is the
development of an Institutional and Regulatory
Framework (IRF). The Framework aims to assign
responsibilityofFSMtospecificinstitutionsbased
on existing laws, policies and strategies; ensure
coordination among stakeholders; and facilitate
environmental,financialandsocialsustainability.
The Ministry of Local Government, Rural
Development and Cooperatives is the lead agency
for the IRF in coordination with other relevant
ministries. Dr Rahman concluded by saying that the
local government, which includes city corporations,
municipalities, and union parishads will play a
major role in its implementation.
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The next session was led by Arumugam Kalimuthu, Programme Director, Swachh
Bharat Mission (Urban), Technical Assistance
Programme, WASH Institute and Convener,
NFSSM Alliance, India. Kalimuthu began with
highlighting the fact that in India, about 60 per
cent of households are beyond the coverage of a
sewerage network and nearly 7,000 small towns
do not have a centralised sewerage system. He
pointed out that the Census 2011 clearly indicates
that as the city size decreases, its dependence on
on-site sanitation facilities increases. Kalimuthu
also emphasised the need for advocacy of manual
scavenging laws and guidelines on septic tank
constructions for improving FSM status in India.
Making a case for strong FSM, he pointed out that
poor FSM leads to high health and environmental
costs and increased capital and operational
expenditure for the centralised system. Despite
these concerns, he was happy to share some of
the achievements of the NFSSM Alliance. Key
among them were:
• Facilitation of regional workshops on FSM in
various states
• Assistance in formulating FSM policy for
states
• Development of Rapid Assessment Tools
for urban local bodies (ULBs) to facilitate
formulation of budgets
Finally, Depinder Kapur, of Sanitation
Capacity Building Platform (SCBP), Programme
LeadfortheNationalInstituteofUrbanAffairs
(NIUA) outlined the challenges and lessons of SCBP.
He explained the context and background of SCBP
asacollaborativeeffortbyNIUAformainstreaming
faecal sludge management at the state and national
levels.
Sharing NIUA’s experiences in developing capacity
building programmes, he stressed that the
programmesweretailor-madetofitthecapacityof
the stakeholders. He also drew attention to some
of the challenges and lessons in undertaking these
needs, such as central and state dynamics, capacity
building in small towns and the limitations of the
current Orientation Training Modules.
The participants then engaged in an open
discussion with the presenters on various aspects
of FSM, including issues of containment, land
availability, appropriate technology and practice,
community engagement, roles and responsibilities
ofdifferentstakeholders,monitoring,partnership
and coordination, and funding and cost-
effectiveness.
Puneet Srivastava, Policy Manager at
WaterAid India then gave a vote of thanks to the
Chair and introduced the Chair for the second
session, Dr M Habibur Rahman, inviting him and
the speakers to the dais.
14 Session IIFSM and a City Wide Approach
Focused on FSM and a City Wide Approach, this
hour-long session was chaired and moderated
by Dr M Habibur Rahman, Chairman,
Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority
(DWASA), Bangladesh. Dr Rahman introduced
the three speakers - Dr Abdullah Al-Muyeed, Jutta
CamargoandBhitushLuthra,andbrieflyshared
their associations, experience, expertise and
key contributions made in the environmental,
academic, WASH and FSM sectors. Setting the
context for the session, Dr Rahman highlighted
the advantages and disadvantages associated
with both centralised and decentralised systems
to treat sewage and wastewater. He pointed out
that a central sewerage system requires less
manpower and covers a large area and population
in comparison with a decentralised system. At the
same time, there is a dire need for FSM to address
sanitation targets as centralised sewerage systems
cannot cover all the areas. He pointed out that to
achieve the Sustainable Development Goal, we
must keep working on a sustainable sanitation
framework to avoid human contact and safely
dispose the waste.
Dr Abdullah Al-Muyeed from the
Programme Support Unit, WaterAid UK, then
elaborated on ‘The Chronicle of Faecal Sludge
Management’, with a special focus on the
history of FSM in Bangladesh. He asserted that
the centralised sewer network is now garnering
interest from sponsors, while the country also
needs FSM to attain safe sanitation. He also
underlined the importance of occupational health
and safety in sanitation practices.
Further, he highlighted the fact that overall only
one per cent faecal sludge is treated and 99 per
cent remains untreated and is not disposed
safely, causing environmental pollution. Giving
details about an FSM project that WaterAid
Bangladesh had undertaken in collaboration with
the municipality of Tangail district of Bangladesh,
he urged that the time had come to practice safe
sanitation. He discussed approaches adopted
under the project, which included capturing the
entire value chain of FSM at the municipality level
by establishing a co-composting plant in Sakhipur
municipality. Before this project was implemented
in 2015, only 21 per cent of the waste was safely
managed. Sakhipur municipality took the lead
in planning, operations and maintenance of
the sanitation service chain. Stressing on the
necessity of science and contextual solutions, Dr
Muyeed explained how those are embedded in
the co-compost plant in Sakhipur in terms of safe
desludging, safe conveyance, safe treatment and
safe reuse of the end-use product for agriculture.
Suchacontext-specificsolutionforSakhipur
contributed to 59 per cent of faecal sludge being
safely managed by 2017. Therefore, integration
of actors from various sectors was vital for the
success of FSM.
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Giving an insight into ‘FSM in Africa: A Journey’,
Jutta Camargo, Regional Coordinator
from BORDA, Africa, highlighted interventions
implemented in Dar es Salam, Tanzania. She
presented FSM approaches adopted by BORDA
impacting environmental, social, technological
and institutional aspects. Sharing the experience
of a faecal sludge management plant in
Kigamboni, she highlighted its capacity, coverage
andeconomicimpactandtheeffectofitsend-use
productinfishpondandagricultureproduction.
The second part of her presentation included an
intervention with Malakuwa River Restoration
Project, which was implemented in 2013
by engaging various top-level government
institutions and ministries. She touched upon the
key components of the project like wastewater
management, solid waste management, project
coverage and area.
Finally, she focused on the decentralised
wastewater treatment systems (DEWATS) used for
the DAR Project and highlighted key approaches
to the project, including framework like social,
legal, economic, and cultural. By presenting
differentcasestudies,sheunderlinedthekey
lessons learned from them and the measures to
strengthen FSM approaches and advocacy.
Bhitush Luthra, Deputy Programme
Manager, Water Programme at Centre for Science
and Environment (CSE), India, presented a ‘Shit
Flow Diagram (SFD): An Integral Part of City
Wide Sanitation’. He explained the diagram and
its relevance in planning and managing city
wide FSM. His presentation included processes
necessary to plan and prepare the diagram. He
described SFD as an important tool in planning
city wide sanitation and its methodologies. By
way of demonstration, he applied SFD in three
differentscenariosandpresentedhisanalysisfor
thedifferentcitiesandthekeyoutcomesofSFD
derived by applying the tool to those cities.
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Panel Discussion
The roadmap of FSM: Where are we?
Finally, the workshop was thrown open for a
panel discussion in which speakers discussed
variousFSMissuesandofferedtheiropinionsand
insights.
FSM Network Bangladesh: Nexus efforts paving the roadmap towards achieving SDG Hasin Jahan, Country Director, Practical Action, Bangladesh
As Country Director of Practical Action,
Bangladesh, Jahan drew attention to a successful
alliance that is actively contributing towards
combating the challenges of FSM in Bangladesh.
He started by lauding the impressive progress
Bangladesh had made on toilet construction,
but added that it was this progress that had
compelled his organisation to start thinking
about FSM very early on as they were aware that
constructing millions of toilets alone could not be
the solution. He pointed out that in the process
of making Bangladesh open defecation-free and
bringing it below one per cent, the participation
andeffortsofallgovernmentalandnon-
governmental agencies, with the exception of the
private sector, was recognised.
Jahandisclosedthatwhileworkingindifferent
dimensions of faecal sludge management,
Practical Action tried to mainstream FSM in
termsofdifferenttechnologyandprocesseslike
composting, co-composting, biogas production
and even aqua-culture, but it was the private
sector which helped them to integrate FSM by
providing innovative and low cost technological
solutions to faecal sludge management. This
made them realise the contribution of the private
sector to innovation in sanitation. Similarly, they
observed that due attention was not being given
to the fertiliser associations and companies who
deal with the sale of compost, which is the end
product of FSM. This brought about the very
important realisation that for successful FSM, it
is necessary to consider the diverse roles of all
thedifferentactorsinvolvedandorchestratetheir
actionsintoaunified,streamlinedprocess.
Jahan revealed that this led to the formation
of an FSM Network in August 2016 with the
aim of providing safe and sustainable FSM
in Bangladesh for improved public health
and environment by 2030. This network has
been formed with the objective of knowledge
sharing and acts as an advocacy platform for
FSM promotion at the policy level and to ensure
the engagement of the private sector. Fifty
organisations and individuals representing the
government, private organisations, research
institutes and NGOs have joined the network so
far.Jahaninformedthegatheringthataflagship
event, ‘FSM Convention’, was organised last
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month under the banner of the FSM network, and
an upcoming important agenda of the network
was to get approval for an institutional and
regulatory framework for FSM. He concluded by
saying that they are in the process of building
a platform to understand the bottlenecks and
problems the private sector is facing.
Policy-Advocacy Integration: Experiences of the 1st FSM Convention of Bangladesh Rajeev Munankami, Senior Advisor and Team Leader, FSM Programme, SNV Netherlands Development Organisation, Bangladesh
Agreeing with Jahan, Rajeev Munankami said
that one cannot work in isolation. There have
been many organisations working piecemeal,
but it has been realized that these interventions
are more successful when all the players come
together to share their knowledge. With this
background, Munankami informed the gathering
that SNV had organised a two-day convention in
Bangladesh on 07-08 December 2016. The overall
aimwastofindthewayforwardintermsof
policymaking, technology and commercialisation,
in order to scale up FSM in municipality and
town planning. Munankami disclosed that Day
One of the Convention focused on these larger
issues of FSM while Day 2 was a Convention
of Pit-emptiers who, he acknowledged, are
the actual drivers of FSM. Revealing that in
Bangladesh, there are more than 80 per cent
manual emptiers, Munankami said that it is
important to recognise their hard work and
contribution towards making the city clean
at a very small incentive. Another important
consideration was the occupational health and
safety of the pit emptier and the entire value chain
of faecal sludge management. He also informed
the gathering that SNV was now working with the
National Skill Development Council to create a
CertificateCoursefortheemptier.
Anotherimportantagenda,hesaid,wastofind
ways to mainstream FSM within the government
policy-implementation regime and to make sure
that the government start investing in it. With
this in view, he shared that one of their pilot
interventions towards making the regulatory
framework operational would be to enable the
municipal authority to charge 12 per cent of
the holding tax as FSM Tax for the services they
provided. Under the municipality tax regulation,
an urban local body can charge FSM or sanitation
tax for the service they provide. He explained
that a quick calculation revealed that a city with
a population of 13 million could generate eight
million taka, which could then be used towards
infrastructure investment and operational and
maintenance costs of the plants.
Underlining the fact that all these interventions
and plans would not succeed without the
stakeholders, Munankami concluded by saying
that SNV was also focusing on ensuring the
participation of all stakeholders.
Tracking FSM experiences of Africa Jutta Camargo, Regional Coordinator, BORDA, Africa
Camargotookcentrestagetobrieflytouchupon
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BORDA’s experiences and challenges with FSM
in Africa and Indonesia. She explained that
BORDA had entered into sludge management
only recently since their main focus had been
wastewater. While working in Africa and India,
their major concern had been the informal
settlements and pit latrines and they were looking
for ways to handle faecal sludge and integrate
it with their technology. Camargo announced
that this was when BORDA started thinking of
constructing a treatment plant and thus began
their work on sludge management.
ThefirsttreatmentplantwassetupinIndonesia
where technology was good but unfortunately,
thelackofaninstitutionalsetupmadeitdifficult
to run the plant. This was a lesson learnt for
BORDA and then they moved to implement FSM
inTanzania.Here,Camargoshared,theyfirst
invested in communication with the municipality.
They adopted a competitive approach among the
urban local bodies (ULBs), which made them
very enthusiastic. Regrettably, however, only
two honest applications came up against three
planned plants.
SheaddedthatinTanzania,therearefive
ministries responsible for faecal sludge
managementanditisverydifficulttoestablish
regular communication among them, which
results in many complexities. In conclusion, she
said that BORDA was now working with a focus
on bringing them together on one platform to
achieve success.
Why Indian cities cannot be ODF without sustainable FSM services: Role of the NFSSM AllianceDr Suresh Kumar Rohilla, Programme Director, Centre for Science and Environment, India
Dr Suresh Kumar Rohilla, Programme Director,
Centre for Science and Environment said that
they have long been advocating that Indian
cities cannot be open defecation-free without
sustainable FSM services. CSE is an active member
of the Alliance to mainstream FSM in India. He
said that CSE has been working independently for
the last 35 years in the area of water management
and has also tracked the entire economics of
water and sanitation. Dr Rohilla said that CSE has
been advocating a decentralised approach as the
answer to issues like pollution. He revealed that in
India, there is a problem of policy implementation
despite having good written policies. The National
Urban Sanitation Policy 2008, talked about
preparing a city sanitation plan, which included
a sub-component for preparing a faecal sludge
management plant. Everything was written but
not understood by the people who were to deliver.
There were no consultants and no university that
would produce the practitioners with the required
skill for sanitation issues. Dr Rohilla pointed out
that today, after eight years of the policy; it was
evident that nothing had moved at the ground
level. He added that one of the important studies
that CSE was involved in was the mapping of 72
citiestoseehowtheirexcretaflows.Theyalso
published a book called ‘Excreta Matters’, which
raised the issue to the next level of advocacy.
Dr Rohilla pointed out that earlier, sanitation
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solutions were understood to be the domain of
civil engineers who never thought beyond sewers
and it was assumed that water was the business of
institutions and water utilities. CSE realised that
the political economy of water and wastewater
requires dialogue with varied people; that it was
important to connect with the society, technology
and economy. In addition, when we talk about the
decentralised solution, the user interface becomes
very important. There were talks of constructing
toilets but faecal sludge management was never
part of those dialogues.
Acknowledging the work of organisations like
BORDA, who have been working on decentralised
wastewater treatment plants, Dr Rohilla regretted
the fact that these plants are never owned by the
governments. He said that he only knew of one
project - Delhi Water Utility – which was owned
and funded by the government. All the others
had donor-led models and were not replicated to
scale. Therefore, he believes that there is a strong
need to build leadership among the supply side to
enable them to have adequate participation.
Speaking about the Alliance that was formed
about a year ago, Dr Rohilla said that they were
aware that none of the members could replace the
government. So it was imperative to put collective
pressure on the government and take advocacy to
the next level. He pointed out that the government
has earmarked 500 cities that would undergo
rejuvenation and selected another 100 cities to
be converted into Smart Cities. But cities cannot
became smart until they are clean and healthy,
so collectively the Alliance was able to convince
the government that the talk needs to go beyond
toilet construction. They suggested that some
‘torch’ cities be built among these 600 cities,
which would have faecal sludge management
implemented at the ground level and could guide
other cities to take sanitation beyond merely
constructing toilets.
Happy that the dialogue had begun, Dr Rohilla
asserted that still a lot of work needs to be done,
as after the enabling framework, it was important
to develop a system for intervention and proper
monitoring. In conclusion, he hoped that through
theAlliance,theywillsucceedininfluencingthe
government and will have more to report in FSM5.
How FSM is critical for everyone everywhere: Reaching the poor first Avinash Kumar, Director, Programmes and Policy, WaterAid India
Avinash Kumar began by stating that since
much had already been said about India, he
would just shed light on a few lessons learned
while implementing a decentralised solution
in a resettlement colony in Delhi. For the past
year, WaterAid India had been in dialogue with
various units of the Delhi government responsible
fordifferentaspects,anditmadethemrealise
the complexity of the decision-making process
within the government, particularly in the urban
context. Kumar revealed that after much dialogue
at the initial level, the government agreed to take
up a decentralised model but wanted to keep
it seperate from the sewer-driven centralised
solution. They wanted it to be placed elsewhere
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as a demonstration of a decentralised solution.
After a series of subsequent conversations, they
agreed but wanted it to link to WaterAid’s 2030
plan. He said that this was when they realised
that a critical component of successful FSM is
changing the mindset of the people concerned.
He further revealed that at their inception
workshop, the CEO of Delhi Jal Board agreed
that sewage connection is limited to 45 per cent
of the population and that to reach up to other
55 per cent, there was a need for decentralised
solutions. Kumar’s understanding is that despite
this recognition in the upper echelons, it would
be a long while before it percolated down to the
executive arm — which mostly comprises people
whohaveamindsetaffixedtoacentralised
solution. He therefore stressed that it was of
utmostimportancetofirstchangethebehaviour
and mindset of the executive wing of the supply
side, but he cautioned that since this mindset has
been prevalent for the last 150 years, it will take
timeandefforttochangeit.
The second point that Kumar made is that our
choice of technology is our choice of politics.
He elaborated by pointing out that when we
talk about decentralised solutions, we also
mean decentralised politics, decentralisation
of participation, community participation, and
ownership by people. Kumar observed that while
the 74th amendment, which came 20 years ago,
gave immense power to the local government,
the irony was that planning rights were given
withoutfinancialrights.Buthealsonotedthatthe
14thFinanceCommissionhas,forthefirsttime,
allocated funds directly to the local government.
While hailing this as a good opportunity for
decentralised solutions, Kumar also foresaw that
capacitydevelopmentandgapidentificationswill
be required.
His third point brought up the issue of manual
scavenging. He remarked that despite being
officiallyabolished,manualscavengingcontinues
and has now become alarming. Last year, a
network organisation working on the issue,
documented 800 deaths of people while working
in the sewer. Kumar observed that after abolishing
manual scavenging in 2013, the government had
allocated funds for their rehabilitation. However,
only 50 per cent of that budget was used. Rueing
the shortsightedness of the government, Kumar
said that noticing this trend of unutilised money,
the government had this year decreased the
budget from INR 470 crore to INR 80 crore instead
of planning better utilisation. He ended by
stressing that these three issues too should come
into the ambit of the agencies working towards
FSM.
FSM - Business or Subsidy! Aftab Opel, Head of Programmes, WaterAid Bangladesh
Unpacking the various processes of FSM,
Opel said that it mainly comprised emptying,
transportation, treatment and reuse. Emptying
forlonghasbeenprofitable,hesaid,butwhen
it has to be transported to a particular place far
away,itbecomesunprofitable.Thetreatment,
too, is very expensive and reuse, to extract some
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value, is not feasible as the investment cannot be
recovered from reuse. He, however, pointed out
that when you factor in the long-term health and
environmentalbenefits,FSMbecomesextremely
profitable.EmphasisingthatFSMisimperative
from the national point of view, he made a case
for the operational components of FSM to be
subsidised in order to make it sustainable.
Exploring FSM commercialisation: The Cambodia experienceAlicia May, Innovation Advisor, iDE (International Development Enterprises)
May introduced iDE as an international NGO
working mainly in Africa and Asia on exploring a
business model for FSM. Talking about Cambodia
specifically,shedeclaredthateventwoyearsback
there was no problem of FSM in Cambodia but
now due to the increasing garbage rate, it had
become a problem that needs to be addressed.
She explained that iDE understands the need
for FSM and they are now exploring a low cost,
commercially viable technological solution for
FSM in Cambodia from the rural point of view as
80 per cent of the population lives in rural areas.
iDE uses a human-centric design approach, she
said, which takes into account desirability – what
differentactorsactuallywant;viability–whether
itwillbecommerciallyandfinanciallyviable
and sustainable; and feasibility – i.e. deciding
which technology is feasible. Realising that they
did not know much about desirability from the
household and emptier point of view, May said
that they started undertaking value chain analysis
to understand knowledge behaviour and link
it with the business model. The next step was
entrepreneurship development. She revealed that
they found around 200 sweepers in the city who
wanted to do FSM but did not know how. This was
iDE’s cue to build their capacity so that they could
take all safety measures and get involved in FSM
with a business model. Finally, it was important
to choose a feasible technology, which would help
in combating local challenges. Giving an example,
May said that in the rainy season, it becomes
difficultinCambodiatotaketheemptiervehicle
inside the lanes of rural areas. She concluded by
saying that developing technology that is context-
specificcouldaddressthechallengesandleadto
success.
FSM: Consequences for public health Dr Christine Moe, Professor, Emory University
Dr Moe drew attention to the hidden cost of
FSM. She warned that it is critical and mainly
occurs due to poor management of faecal sludge.
Referringtothe‘shitflow’diagramthatwas
shared earlier, she reminded everyone that the
generated faecal sludge mostly stays in the
neighbourhood.
DrMoeenumeratedthedifferentwaysthatwe
get exposed to shit , like water, soil, physical
contact,opendrains,surfacewater,birds,flies,
solidwaste,floodwater,andsharedlatrines
and cautioned that these are the pathways of
contamination through which public health
gets a negative impact. This negative impact can
become severe when we have poor faecal sludge
management. In conclusion, Dr Moe warned that
23
it is important to realise that we cannot protect
ourselves if there is poor FSM in our surrounding
areas.
Concluding Remarks Dr Suresh Kumar Rohilla
Concluding the session, Dr Rohilla said that
there were important discussions on the political
economy of sanitation, and how decentralised
solutions need decentralised politics. Experiences
at the grassroot level were also shared and
importantscientificobservationsweremade
about the contamination caused due to poor
FSM. However, he lamented that despite all this
awareness,itisstilldifficulttosolvetheproblem
because the accountable people are usually
non-responsive. He stated that though we all
know the impact of FSM on public health, we
need science to make us aware of the economical
benefitsofFSM.Heregrettedthatwestilldonot
have laboratories in our districts to test faecal
sludge and tell us how the faecal sludge of
AsiaisdifferentfromAfricaandhowdifferent
faecalsludgecarrydifferentnutrientvalues.He
pointed out that appropriate knowledge would
enableustoreusefaecalsludgemoreefficiently.
Emphasising that the answers to these questions
need to be explored and discussed further through
alliances, he concluded the session by expressing
satisfaction on the day’s proceedings and ended
on a note of hope that such discussions and
sharing would eventually lead to feasible actions
and solutions.
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